BREAKING: The Cleveland kidnapper found dead.

The Cleveland kidnapper Ariel Castro – who held Amanda Berry, Michelle Knight, Gina De Jesus captive for more than ten years – has been found hanging in his prison cell.

Castro was sentenced to life is prison – plus 1000 years – on his guilty plea, after being charged with 937 criminal acts including kidnapping and rape. He was sentenced on September 1.

The Ohio Rehabilitation and Correction officials found Castro at 9.20pm, and attempted to revive him. He was then moved to the he Ohio State University Wexner Medical Centre, before being pronounced dead at 10.52pm.

1. Barack Obama has reportedly won key support from republican leaders for military action against the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria.

Al-Assad is accused of using chemical weapons against Syrian civilians in an attack that killed at least 281 people. Speaking at the White House, Obama said that “Assad and Syria needs to be held accountable”.

It’s been suggested that Syria is the biggest threat to world peace since Vietnam.

2. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd‘s credibility has been called into question by Fairfax chairman Roger Corbett during an interview with Lateline last night. “In my view, Kevin Rudd is a leader that has been really discredited by his own conduct,” he said. “Here’s a man that has really done the Labor Party enormous damage, destabilised it and is now wishing to present himself to the Australian people as a prime minister .. and as the incoming prime minister.”

In other 2013 election news, Greens leader Christine Milne has urged voters to allow the Greens to maintain the balance of power in the Senate so that the party can block any moves by Tony Abbott to “tear down carbon pricing mechanisms. Who knows what he would do to the environment,” Milne told ABC News 24 yesterday.

3. Lleyton Hewitt has been knocked out of the US Tennis Open after losing to Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny in the fourth round. Hewitt was defeated in five sets, 6-3, 3-6, 6-7, 6-4, 7-5.

4. Police are confident that they’ve found the body of missing NSW man Gary Tweddle in the Blue Mountains. The 23-year-old went missing on July 16 from a resort he was staying for a work conference. Tweddle’s body was found on a cliff, about two kilometres from where he went missing. Police believe Mr Tweddle might have slipped and fallen at night.

5. A 56-year-old Taiwanese woman has reportedly been sentenced to nearly 300 years in jail after she engaged in a five-year affair with her married next door neighbour.The woman, who owns a restaurant that specialises in snake meat, was ordered to serve four months in jail for every time she had sex with the man, which was 894 times. She’ll reportedly have to serve two years of the sentence but can make up the rest with a fine.

6. The first ever music video made in space has been released. The video was made by Chris Hadfield, who has recently become famous for his space-made clips, as a way of saying goodbye to the space station.

7. A St Kilda footballer has apologised to the man he set fire to during last year’s finals celebrations. Clinton Jones reportedly used a lighter to set the clothes of dwarf entertainer Blake Johnston alight. “I am embarrassed if this has caused angst and certainly had no intention to cause any harm to anyone, including the St Kilda Football Club and its members,” he said. Jones has been fined $3000 by the St Kilda Football Club.

8. New figures released by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) have revealed an average pay gap of around $266 between men and women – which is an increase on previous years. “It’s actually been steadily increasing since about 2004, from about 15 per cent in 2004 and now we’re looking at about 17.5 per cent over the last year,” Dr Carla Harris told The ABC.

Teresa with her baby Andrew.

9. A 37-year-old woman who was rushed to hospital with suspected appendicitis has given birth to a surprise baby boy.

Teresa Brown was suffering abdominal pain when she went to hospital and was informed she was in labour only 45 minutes before she gave birth to her son.

Fifteen years ago, doctors told Teresa she was infertile and would never be able to have children.